CRM rules for ROI, partnerships, goals

The third instalment of the 17 rules of CRM examines return on investment, support, delivery, choosing the right partner and sticking to company-wide goals.

When evaluating CRM solutions, many companies often overlook the fact that accounts payable and accounts receivable data should form an integral part of CRM. If a customer calls to order a product, for example, it is beneficial to instantly know whether that customer's account is up to date.

Although some CRM solutions offer patches to link back to an accounting system, others offer this seamless integration out of the box. It creates a more immediate ROI, as these solutions do not have to absorb the high cost of custom integration.

To be truly effective, the CRM solution needs to support customers on their own terms. This means delivering the information into the hands of the agents who respond to customer enquiries over the telephone, fax, e-mail or written letters. Nowadays, a CRM solution should also support interactive Web-chat with customers and make a wide range of information available to them over robust Web sites.

For internal staff, such as field service employees and sales staff, the solution should also support all standard wireless devices. Solutions that are restricted to a single device or operating system will become too limiting as technology evolves. With support for PDAs, for example, sales reps can get real-time updates about the prospects or customers they are about to visit - before they walk through the door.

To be truly effective, the CRM solution needs to support customers on their own terms.

Ashley Ellington is MD of Softline Enterprise.

An item of increasing relevance to many companies is whether they want to actually bring their CRM solutions "in-house". The alternative solution is to give data to a provider to host and then only access information through a browser. Organisations must decide how comfortable they are with having their data stored outside the company.

It is difficult to provide guidance in this regard except to say it is vital, at the outset, to check the security and recovery arrangements of anyone who is hosting data.

When considering a rental model, smaller companies in particular should consider the telecommunication connection charges and look at the total cost of ownership over a two- or three-year period as opposed to those of an ownership model. For larger companies, consider whether the compromises inherent in the system, in terms of its ability to be integrated and customised, are something that can be lived with. That all considered, a rental model (or ASP) has incredible advantages in terms of maintenance, cost of hardware and ease of upgrades - even though these are compulsory.

A recent trend in CRM is the movement of enterprise vendors into the middle market space as larger sites have become saturated or locked in with one CRM vendor or another. When considering the experience of a vendor, consider how relevant working with a top five consultancy on a multimillion-rand project with almost complete customisation abilities is to the company. If the firm is of small to medium size, the realities are different to those of a global organisation. Budgets are tight, projects are tightly aligned to ROI and must deliver immediately. Project cycles are also much shorter.

If it is a small to medium-size company, take time to assess enterprise products in the "mid-market" segment and ask the right questions: What have they delivered for other companies of the same size? What kind of mid-market products do they offer? Is it simply an enterprise solution with features removed? What works out of the box in these products, and what needs to be "customised"? What is the overall cost of sale where an extended project cycle is likely?

Often, sales departments will be motivated to implement CRM long before other groups get on board. Although it can be a worthwhile strategy to implement new software one department at the time, don't lose sight of the overall goal, which is to implement CRM throughout the company.

When everyone in the company is connected to CRM, instantly accessing the critical information they need to keep driving the business forward, organisations will see the most exciting benefits of CRM. Although an implementation usually starts with a departmental focus, the larger goals should always remain in mind.

* Ashley Ellington is MD of Softline Enterprise.